UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2 press conference

The UFC held one final press conference today to help promote the UFC’s first foray into Canada as current UFC Welterweight champion Matt Serra will defend his title against interim champion Georges St-Pierre in a rematch of their UFC 69 showdown where Serra shocked the world and outstruck the striker in St-Pierre. For those who can’t order UFC 83, don’t worry because 5thRound.com will have a LIVE Play-by-Play exclusively on 5thRound.com!

Here are our notes for today’s press conference:

Rich Franklin

– On fighting on the first UFC card in Canada.

“This is the second time I’ve fought in Montreal, I’ve actually fought for the UCC before.”
– On what type of fight the fans can expect.

“You probably know that Travis and I are not the type of fighters that have any animosity towards each other, but that’s not going to stop us from putting on a good show for everybody.” Franklin made a gesture towards Lutter as a joke, much like Tito Ortiz did to Ken Shamrock on The Ultimate Fighter.

– On not having to be in the main event.

“The difference for me is that I’m getting asked a heck of a lot less questions and I like it.”

“I’m happy where I am.”

“I would imagine that Travis is going to try to take me down.” “We’ve covered all the scenarios in training, and I feel confident in the way my training went.”

Travis Lutter

– “I’d like to thank Rich for taking the fight. It’s a great honor to fight him [Rich Franklin].”

– On Anderson Silva.

“Yes, I can beat him [Anderson Silva]. But I don’t know if I’m going to get to fight him.”

Georges St-Pierre

– On fighting in Canada.

“This is an historic event for me. A moment that I’ve been waiting for for a long, long time.”

“I truly believe that I will be the new world Welterweight champion.”

– On the difference in this fight as opposed to the first time.

“I’ve been training really hard for that fight regarding stand-up… Since that fight I’ve become a different fighter. I think that that fight was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“I do have a strategy going into that fight, but it’s like playing cards you don’t show your cards.”

– On the crowd reaction on Saturday.

“Well I think it’s going to be a good positive vibe, but it’s going to be the same Octagon, same rules.”

“I’m going to fight the same way I normally fight, I don’t fight too much with my emotions, because when you do you make a mistake. I like to fight mathematically and fight with no emotion.”

– On being calm this time as opposed to before the last fight with Matt Hughes.

“I don’t mind about the talking, I’m a good sportsman. I don’t mind, after the fight I’ll leave everything out there in the Octagon and shake his hand.”

– On Fitch saying he’s scared of getting knocked out.

“Talk to Fitch after Saturday night, we’ll see what he’s going to say.”

Matt Serra

– On fighting in Canada.

“What can I say? The first time for the UFC in Canada… and I’m the main event.”
“I have a shot to shock the world again, which I plan on doing.”
“First of all, I don’t hate the French, let’s just get that out there alright?”

– On his training camp and having interim belts.

“To me it’s another fight man, it’s another hard day of sparring.”

“I don’t get caught up in the whole belt thing, don’t get me wrong I want to hold on to it.”

“Leading up to this, the training camp has been phenomenal. I clocked in more rounds for this fight. I fight the way I train and spar, to me it’s another day in the office.”

– On being the underdog.

“It’s fun, it’s good. I like the underdog role, I really do. I don’t get all caught up in them forgetting what happened the first time. I just concentrate on what I gotta do. I’m lucky, I got a great job.”

– On how he feels about St-Pierre.

“Well it’s not like he’s Matt Hughes or anything, but you know I think after the first fight we were both gracious and did the right thing, but afterwards it was different.”

– On getting booed on Saturday

“I put in a lot of old UFC’s and I watched all of the times that Tim Sylvia walked out.” “I’m expecting a lot of boos but I’m going to be okay.”